The LuxSci FYI Blog

by Erik Kangas, PhD, CEO

Posts Tagged ‘tls v1.0’

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are foundations of security on the Internet. However, between colloquial usage and the relationship between these security protocols, there is a lot of confusion regarding how they are related, how they are different, and what to use in what situation.

SSL and TLS are not actually monolithic encryption entities that you either use or do not use to connect securely to email servers, web sites, and other systems. SSL and TLS are evolving protocols which have many nuances to how they may be configured. The “version” of the protocol you are using and the nuances of the configuration directly affect the security achievable through your connections.

Some people use the terms SSL and TLS interchangeably, but TLS (version 1.0 and beyond) is actually the successor of SSL (version 3.0). … see SSL versus TLS – what is the difference? In 2014 we have seen that SSL v3 is very weak and should not be used going forward by anyone (see the POODLE attacks, for example), TLS v1.0 or higher should be used.

Among the many configuration nuances of SSL and TLS, which “ciphers” are permitted have the greatest impact on security. A “cipher” defines the specific encryption algorithm to be used, the secure hashing (message fingerprinting / authentication) algorithm to be used, and other related things. Some ciphers that have long been used, such as RC4, have become weak over time and should not be used in secure environments.

Given these nuances, people are often at a loss as to what is specifically needed for HIPAA compliance or any kind of effective level TLS security.

Update – January, 2015. SSL v3 should be turned off. RC4 is now weak and should not be used anymore, even as a work around to the BEAST attack. LuxSci recommends to use TLS v1.1+ and NIST-recommended ciphers. The BEAST is not really considered a significant vector (even with TLS v1.0) compared to other things, anymore.

Update – April, 2012. openssl v1.0.1 is out and it supports TLS v1.1 and v1.2 which help mitigate this attack. All web sites hosted by LuxSci now use this updated software and are safe from BEAST. LuxSci recommends using a web host which supports TLS v1.1 and v1.2 for secure web connections.

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SSL v3 and TLS v1 are subject to a serious exploit, according to a recently published attack mechanism (called BEAST). This sounds foundation-shattering and kind of scary. When people see this, as when we did, the first panicky questions that arise are:

What is really affected?

How serious is it?

What can I do to protect myself?

How does the BEAST attack actually work?

After researching this issue, we have digested what we have found and produced this article to answer all of these questions for you.